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OAK GROVE — The Pine Grove Township Authority is looking for new customers, and letters inviting commercial businesses located on the east side of Interstate 81 will be sent out.

Since the authority cannot force a connection, the members agreed Aug. 19 that Chairman John Stahl should send a letter asking McDonald’s and the three motels, Econo Lodge, Comfort Inn and Colony Inn, to voluntarily connect.

Ordinance

A draft mandatory connection ordinance prepared by authority solicitor Rick Wiest was reviewed and approved by the authority. However, since passage of an ordinance is the responsibility of the supervisors, it was forwarded to their solicitor for further action. After township passage, the authority would enforce it.

“It is not our intention to force residents to connect,” Stahl said.

In July, Wiest informed the authority that a mandatory connection ordinance would need to be passed by the supervisors if the authority ever wanted to secure a loan. Without an ordinance, the authority could not demonstrate the ability to pay, he said.

The draft ordinance Wiest had prepared would require any improved property within 150 feet of the water system to connect.

Loans

Wiest said he had not received feedback from DiNicola about a request the authority made regarding township loans totaling $450,000. The first request was made by Stahl to the supervisors, while the second one was made by Wiest to DiNicola stating the authority’s desired terms for repayment. Since no response was received, Wiest advised the members to let the request ride until the township responds.

After the meeting, Stahl stated that the authority has made its ideas known and it’s for the township to either accept its terms or offer new ones.

The authority currently has two loans from the township, one for $250,000 approved in January 2011, which was made in order to purchase the Aldick’s System from the former owner, Tom Feeser, and to provide money in which to operate short term. In September 2013, an additional $200,000 was approved.

Engineer

A recent disagreement with OTM engineer Heath Machamer was resolved. Authority member Brian Harwick spoke with Machamer prior to the meeting, but that agreement did not satisfied Stahl, who said he would speak with Machamer again. Stahl said the two came to a satisfactory agreement and the authority approved payment of the bill.

However, several items remain open on one of the two sub-divisions Machamer was working on, which Wiest recommended be completed and he said had talked with Machamer about it.

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